Repitched too soon!

[TBMaster]

Feeling like a right eeediot this morning

Brewed a 4 gallon stout on Friday and all went well....apart from I used my first smack pack (Wyeast Irish Ale).

Smacked it 3 hrs before pitching and it did nothing (pack didn't swell at all).

I put this down to the yeast being cold and it only being 3 hrs so dumped the pack in the wort anyway.

Well 72hrs later the brew has done nothing (and I mean nothing!), flat as a millpond, same sg. So last night I panic and lugged in a SAFEALE-04. By this morning fermentation is kicking into life nicely.

However, having got into work and checking the forums it seems that cold yeast / liquid yeast / lowish fermentation temps (60) / and high sg are all factors in causing a significant lag in fermentation.....so it looks like I should've waited longer.

What happens if both yeast strains ferment together, will it cause off flavours?

I'm really annoyed with myself as I'm trying to be more relaxed about this stuff and less noobish....but still end up doing panicky things. Silly man!

 

[OrvilleOrdinary]

I wouldn't worry. One of the two strains will dominate the other. The "battle for the throne" so to speak can sometimes result in some off-flavors, but some folks use multiple strains in the same batch to great effect.

Yeah, once you smack the pack, you have to leave it at room temperature. But the first time I used a smack pack, I didn't slap the bastard hard enough, and the inner bag didn't break. But I pitched anyway, and of course it still works...

 

[conpewter]

It will be perfectly fine. S-04 is a great yeast for stouts I've found. It will ferment out nicely, just give it a few weeks on the yeast cake as usual before bottling/kegging.

 

[IrregularPulse]

You may find your new House Strain! Some breweries use yeast combos I believe.

 

[TBMaster]

Thanks guys for reducing my noobie nervousness. We'll see what it tastes like in a few months.

Anyhoo regarding the ferment everything is now very much "cool and the gang"! I think I'm about to pop my blowoff cherry, the thing has taken off like a rocket. In 36 hrs we are "touching bung", need to fix blow off tube tonight....but that's 12 hours away and by then it maybe too late.

Thanks for your help as always guys.

 

[lucky13]

I had the opposite problem and thought over 24hrs would be a bit much for prep smacking...

All is well though.

I've thought about experimenting with double yeast strains. Any threads on that here?

 

[TBMaster]

As predicted above we have blow off!! :rockin:

Cool but concerning, the missus is at home and has phoned to say "it's all coming out of the glass thing at the top and down the side".

She's refusing to go anywhere near it!

Concerned that if the airlock clogs it'll blow the bung, am I best off getting her to remove the airlock (until I get home and sort it all out)?

 

[shecky]

Tell her to remove the bung, sanitize a piece of tin foil (assuming you have some Star-San or something stored) and slap that foil on top of the carboy. It'll let the pressure out until you get home and can rig a blowoff tube.

 

[TBMaster]

Zero chance of her doing that

It's four hours till I get home, guess I'm just gonna have to pray.

I assume removing the airlock will just leave it too exposed?

 

[shecky]

Well, it seems you're in very active fermentation so just removing the bung won't be a huge problem. The positive pressure will keep any nasties from getting in, but don't leave it too long.

 

[TBMaster]

Well got home last night and cleaned up.....decided there wasn't all that much in the neck of the BB so put a new clean bung and airlock on.

Within two hours that was blown again!!!

So capitulated and built a blow off tube. Checked again the morning and krausen has not reached the PET bottle so all is well. It is really giving of some gas though, the water is bubbling faster than one a second.

High gravity beers eh, they're rather good fun!

Hope it tastes nice after all this t1tting about